Alabama AG: Fight over Affordable Care Act will continue

MONTGOMERY, Alabama -- Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange said this afternoon that the fight over the Affordable Care Act will continue, and one of the next battlegrounds will be the ballot box.

"The fight will continue as far as we are concerned," Strange said.

Alabama was one of 26 states that challenged the constitutionality of the federal healthcare legislation.

Strange said there will be continuing challenges over some of the mandates under the act. He said those include a challenge filed by the EWTN Global Catholic Network to a mandate to provide contraception coverage in health plans.

The other option is the ballot box in November, he said.

"Nothing that happened today can't be fixed on Election Day in November. My hope is that this will focus people's attention on how important the elections are," Strange said.

Today's Supreme Court decision was a victory for the Obama administration, but opponents suggested that it could also be a galvanizing moment for the November elections.

"We are looking forward to 131 days from today when Americans go to the polls and vote. NFIB will now be fighting on a regulatory and legislative front to overturn Obamacare," said Rosemary Elebash, Alabama director of the National Federation of Independent Business

That national group was one of the plaintiffs that tried to have the law overturned.

The Affordable Care Act, beginning in 2014, will require that businesses with more than 50 employees provide health insurance for their employees or face fines.

"There will be companies that decide it will be cheaper for me to pay the penalty than it would be for me to pay the health insurance premiums. I think you will see that not only in Alabama but across the nation," Elebash said.

"When you think about forcing Americans, just because they are breathing, to purchase either a product or a service, what is going to be next? What is going to be the next thing they say Americans are going to have to purchase?" Elebash said.